Sligo Central Library will be hosting The Word on Wednesday 25th of November at 6:15pm.
Councillor Dara Mulvey Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council cordially invites you to attend a special edition of The Word, a Sligo County Council Commemoration Programme 2026 event, to launch the anthology
In the Deep Heart’s Core: Sligo and the Sense of Place.
Supported by the Department of Communications, Culture and Sport.
6:15pm, Wednesday 25th November 2026, Sligo Central Library, Stephen Street, Sligo F91 X264
The Word is a collaborative event between Sligo Central Library and the BA in Writing & Literature course at Sligo ATU.
In the Deep Heart’s Core: Sligo and the Sense of Place
It is this feeling, assenting, equable marriage between the geographical country and the country of the mind … that constitutes the sense of place in its richest possible manifestation.
—Seamus Heaney, ‘The Sense of Place’ (1977)
Sligo has a long history of rural folklore and urban myth. From the faery lore and haunted landscapes that so enraptured W.B. Yeats to the 1832 cholera epidemic which inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), Sligo has always been a rich source of written and oral culture. And it is those kinds of stories – both real and imagined – that help create our sense of place.
The thirty-seven contributions gathered in this anthology range across a variety of forms and genres: poems, memoirs, short stories, critical essays, and interviews. As Seamus Heaney reminds us, ‘We are dwellers, we are namers, we are lovers, we make homes and search for our histories’. The pieces included in this rattle bag are all part of that ongoing search, and a celebration of Sligo and environs.
A beautiful book. Reminds us that we’re all just passing through.
—Neil Jordan, writer and filmmaker
Panel discussion with Dr Marion Dowd and Maura Gilligan – Panel and Q&A Moderated by Dr Keith Hopper
Music with Cathy Jordan
Roscommon born Cathy Jordan has been a professional singer with traditional group Dervish for nearly 30 years. She is a self-taught guitar, bouzouki, bodhrán and bones player.
She has led Dervish as front woman through thousands of concerts in hundreds of cities in nearly 40 countries and has 18 albums under her belt. Among the most notable performances were The Great Wall of China and the biggest rock music festival in the world – Rock in Rio to over 250,000 people.
As a songwriter, she has written songs with internationally renowned Brendan Graham, best known for the most successful song of the twentieth century, You Raise Me Up.
In 2014, she took up the role of presenter of Fleadh TV with TG4. Cathy has been an ambassador for Irish culture and music for over a quarter of a century, and has a deep understanding of traditional Irish songs and singing and has collected hundreds of songs which otherwise may have been forgotten. Cathy and Dervish have been invited to accompany Presidents and Taoisigh of Ireland as cultural ambassadors to China, Latvia and Lithuania.
Dervish’s most recent album The Great Irish Songbook was released in 2019 on Rounder Records and features duets with Vince Gill, Steve Earle, Imelda May, David Gray and more. Over the years Cathy has picked up many awards for her contribution to traditional Irish music including BBC Lifetime Achievement Award 2019, Sligo Cultural Ambassador 2018, Annie McNulty Award 2014 and The Freedom of The City of Sligo in 2010.
In 2023 she released three new albums: Storybook; the songs by Brendan Graham with piano player Fergal Murray; Female Rambling Sailor with Plúirín na Mban with fellow musicians Claudia Schwab and Irene Buckley; and Freight Train with jazz musicians Paul Clarvis and Liam Noble.
In 2024 she released The Crankie Island Song Project album, the culmination of a song for each county accompanied by original scrolling visuals in a crankie box.
2025 saw Cathy receive a Gradam Ceol award from TG4 for singer of the year. She was also nominated for best folk singer, and best album for The Crankie Island Song Project, at the RTE folk awards.
Q&A: Open audience Questions and Answers session
The event is free and unticketed with limited seating. No entry after 6:30pm.
The event will also be streamed on Facebook on the night: www.facebook.com/SligoCountyLibrary
There is no charge for this event.
sligolib@sligococo.ie
Tel: 0719111675
